Once again, poker confounds me. Playing NLHE ring game (.25/.50 – 9 handed), I get pocket AA twice in one loop. There are several limpers in front. I bump it to $5 – far too high for this game, but I figure to get at least one caller. I get two.

Flop is Q high. I push. Without hesitation, he calls. Q on the river.

Again, I get AA and this time only bump it to $2. Two callers. Flop is J high with 2 hearts. I bet $4 – more than half the pot. He reraises the minimum, and I push (which overbets the pot) to price him out of the flush draw. He flops over Kh 5h and sucks out the heart on the river.

I tell these two bad beats only to illustrate the following hand: KK UTG. I bump to $1.50. MP calls. The button bumps to $5. I bump to $8.50 to try and get MP to fold. No such luck. He calls and button puts us both all in. We both call. MP has QJ (!), and of course, the button has AA.

K on the river, and the suckout comes my way!! I tripled up and left the room.

I also pulled the laptop in front of the tube to play one of the big games ($11 + 1 with re-buys. There were about 1400 players with a top prize of about $14,000). Bottom line, don’t play while watching final table madness. I finished 250th.

New site to plug: Clarified. She’s not sure if it’s spelled Clareified or Clarified, but it’s always great writing. Laugh out loud stuff.

Final thought: It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision. - Helen Keller

First place was over $3000. It was a 4 hour investment of time, but the return on investment is huge. I got knocked out by a chip leader who was being a bully. I called with 9c 10c. The flop came A 10 3, with 2 clubs. I bet and got called. I went all in after the turn (a blank) which was probably my mistake. I had a pair and the best draw (9 clubs for the flush, 3 nines for 2 pair, and two tens for the set). He called and a blank came on the river. He won with a pair of Aces.

I’ll be back.

I also cashed in a few more SNG’s:

Buy-In: $15.00/$1.00, 18 players. You finished the tournament in 4th place. A $27.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.Buy-In: $15.00/$1.00, 18 players. You finished the tournament in 4th place. A $27.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.Buy-In: $15.00/$1.00, 18 players. You finished the tournament in 2nd place. A $81.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.Buy-In: $15.00/$1.00, 18 players. You finished the tournament in 1st place. A $108.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

So, then I went back to the Muckleshoot to play in their $45 rebuy Thursday night tournament. You start with 1500 chips, but the blinds start at 25/50 and go up quickly. Antes begin as soon as the rebuy and add-on period is over.

Nonsense.

The online tournament requires FAR more skill. This live tourney was an all-in fest, and I had no fun. I didn’t even bother to get the add-on. I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

You should be reading: www.thepokerdb.com. It lists all tournament winners and includes their lifetime winnings (since 2004). It’s free to register. It does not list SNG wins (otherwise I’d be on there a bunch), and it doesn’t list losses. Several of the players that made it beyond the bubble in the 11+R tournament had lifetime winnings on PS over $20,000.

Final thought: Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. - Helen Keller

Sunday, September 18, 2005

So, I’m on my way to a live home game yesterday, but traffic is miserable on I-5 North. Conveniently, I get off in Fife and I’m forced to drive right past my old stomping grounds – Freddie’s of Fife. They usually spread 3/6 (and 4/8 when they get busy), and they have a fairly good payout structure for their Monte Carlo. I’ve never hit the jackpot, but I’ve been close. Anyway, I hate 3/6 almost as much as 4/8. Statistically it should be a better game because the small blind is only $1. That SHOULD mean that the small blind wouldn’t call with weaker hands because he has to pay more than 50% to see the flop.

Yeah. Right.

There was an average of 5 people to see the flop every time. I reraised in late position after sitting quietly for 5 minutes and the flop came A J 6. They all checked to me. My bet got 4 callers. The turn was a 10. It’s checked to me again. I bet and get one caller. The river is a blank. I bet again and get called.

By pocket 8’s.

Do you realize how ridiculous that is? I sure did. It would be great if I could say that he read my “tell.” The truth is that no one in that room knows how to read tells, and wouldn’t care to look if they did. I just ran into a calling station before I knew what to do about it. I mucked without showing to the great surprise of the rest of the table.

So, at least now I have bluff equity, and should get paid for decent hands.

None came.

As my chips dwindled, I get Jc 8c in the big blind. 5 callers see a flop of K J 8. I’m thinking my two pair is good, but I check anyway in 2nd position (the small blind called the flop, of course). One MP bets and everyone calls.

Now I’m beat. With the board paired, anyone holding a K or a pocket pair higher than my Jacks has me beat. On the off chance that this was not the case (all right, so it was a stupid move), I bet. I get three callers.

Two of them had Ace-high. I’m reaching for the pot exclaiming how I can’t believe no one stayed with the case K. The dude on the ends waits until my hand hits the chips and slow-rolls his pocket K.

If I wasn’t on tilt before, I was now. I stood up and pointed my finger in the guys face and said, “that’s called a slow-roll, and it’s not right!” He just gave me a blank look. I took my remaining three dollars and left to the sound of “seat open!”

Strange that I lost my cool like that. I’ve had much worse bad beats. The combination of not winning a single hand in that session (!) plus the slow-roll was too much, I guess.

So with that chip on my shoulder, I went to the home game. I was .25/.50 dealer’s choice with a buck on the river. One joker was good for Aces, straights and flushes. We took it out for a couple rounds of Hold ‘em and one round of Omaha.

One game of baseball had me just calling with a Hollywood (straight flush wheel – in this case A thru 5 of spades) because I was afraid of 5 Aces. Fortunately, he only had 4 Aces. I finished up 7 dollars for the night, and I had a great time. I was going to say BUT I had a great time, but that wouldn’t be fair. A win is a win, and we had a good time to boot.

To finish the night, I played a little NLHE .25/.50 on PokerStars, and I brought my A game. Started with $20 and finished over $60 in about 30 minutes.

Friday, September 16, 2005

I hit the Muckleshoot again last night. I stayed WAY too late, especially since I had to get up at 4:30 am again. I made a command decision to sleep in to 6:00, so I set my alarm for 5:50. Unfortunately, I set it for 5:50 pm (when will I stop making that same stupid mistake?) and woke up at 6:37.

Shit.

I doubled up at the ‘shoot, but it should have been much better. I had a bad beat which I’ll illustrate here, not because it’s incredibly bad, but because I made one betting mistake when I knew I was beat.

I had 53 off suit in the big blind. There were 6 to see the flop which came 3 5 7 rainbow. I check my two pair and a late calling station bet. Everyone called up to me, and I check-raised the flop. This is usually a sign of medium strength when you don’t want anyone to draw out on you. It’s often used when you are trying to get people who are drawing to overcards, a straight or flush to fold. It almost never works at 4/8, and true to form, 6 people called the raise. The turn was a 3.

Money.

Now I had the baby full house, and I wanted to get paid for it, so I bet. I had a reputation as a little aggressive, so I thought I might get some action. I was right. There were three callers before the calling station raised the pot. I wasn’t afraid. In fact, I put him on AA or KK which was fine by me. I reraised. He capped and I called. The river was a 5.

Holy crap.

Now I went from a bottom full house to a top full house (not quite, but you see it coming, don't you?). Here is where I made my mistake. He is a calling station and he capped the river. The correct move was to check and call (since I had the 3rd nuts at this point. I’m beat by 75 or 77).

He raised.

As I’m calling the raise, I said, “You picked a helluva time to get pocket 7’s.” He said, “You mean these?”

Asshole.

My only real mistake was that last bet on the river. Normally, I’m getting paid for that hand. I still left up $100, so all was not a total loss. I think I tilted a little after that hand, but not too bad.

Final thought: Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock. - Will Rogers

Thursday, September 15, 2005

I took a break from poker (for about 12 hours) and did some reading. I also listened to Barry Greenstein live audioblog the WCOOP tournament on PokerStars. He mentioned that most good players “got broke” several times before they became successful. I think the only pro who claims to never have been broke is Sklansky.

I decided to concentrate on my specialty. Things have taken a decided turn for the better:

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Talk about depressing. After the self-doubt (and self-loathing) of watching the last of my allotted stake disappear at 10/20, I started doing some soul-searching. Why am I playing this stupid game? What if I’m not as good as I think I am? Maybe 10/20 is too high a limit for me?

Actually, that last one is partly true. Some of the players at the table even told me so. I made two pair on the turn, but folded on the river when the 4th spade hit and the caller finally bet into me. I (stupidly) asked him to show and he told me he’d show for $5. I felt like an idiot for even asking. I didn’t pay him off. To needle me, he told his buddy (sitting between us) that he put me on being a tight player and thought I might fold to the bet.

He was right, but I still think he had a spade. I didn’t.

Part of the problem is playing 10/20 on the weekends. The play is a LOT more aggressive (a lot like 4/8, in fact), and my game isn’t suited to that (no pun intended). Never try to play higher limits when you are nursing a dwindling bankroll. It was in Doyle’s book, Poker Wisdom of a Champion where he said that there are very few players that play well under these conditions. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them.

So in the midst of this rut, I decided to do some bonus whoring. I dropped $600 into Poker Stars in order to get the $120 reload bonus. I’m playing two tables of 1 / 2 limit simultaneously in order to gain the 600 FFP’s I need to qualify. After that, I’m going to stick to my specialty – the $15 two-table NLHE tournament. Just to remember what it’s like, I signed up for one while playing the two tables of 1 / 2 (so I'm playing three tables at once). When I got to the final table, I was the short stack. I was dealt 9 9 with the 9 of clubs, and I raised. I got one caller. After the flop I had an overpair and three to the flush. The Jc came on the turn and my bet got raised. The river completed my flush, but at that point, I was all in. He had Jh 8c for the flush with the 8c. My flush with the 9c took the pot. Here is how we finished:

I called my dad right away. He said that in all his years of playing, he only got one Royal Flush. I’m sure the difference is that I’m playing online. Not that I think online is fixed (I’ve heard all the conspiracies. It is not in the interest of Poker Stars to fix the games. They probably make millions a day already. If rumor got out that they were fixed, all their business would go away). It’s just that I’m seeing up to 200 hands per hour. I’ve probably seen almost as many hands of poker this year as my dad did in 5.

So, maybe I won’t give up just yet. My plan is to build the bankroll back to at least $500 (if possible) then maybe try a little NLHE ring at Tulalip (risky, but a good way to build a bankroll in a hurry) before going back to 10/20 at the ‘shoot. When I do go back, don’t look for me on the weekends. If you see me there, it’s either because I’m desperate, or flush with cash.

That’s actually the title of George R. R. Martin’s second book in what is soon to be a 4 parter in the Song of Ice and Fire series. Seems appropriate for a poker blog, too.

As I noted, my bankroll has suffered lately. I’m stuck for all my online play. My entire stake at Party Poker and Poker Stars had vanished, and I was hovering near the bottom of the barrel (talk about a mixed metaphor). I took close to my last $400 to the Muckleshoot a couple of days ago. I say it was nearly my last because I forced myself to stick to the “poker-can” concept, and so far it’s working. That is, it was until recently.

For those that didn’t read it on an earlier blog, the poker-can probably saved my marriage (okay, that’s a bit of an overstatement. Let’s just say that after an INTENSE discussion with my wife, we decided that using family money was unacceptable for by burgeoning poker career, so we staked my “can.” When the stake is gone, it’s gone. Then the begging begins, and NOBODY wants that).

I started looking at this like a business recently, and I immediately became much more frugal. Start thinking about BB/hr and stop lamenting individual hands, I told myself. Well, I’ve cashed in the last two tournaments I played and had three consecutive winning sessions (included a 4/8 win, which is astounding given that this isn’t really poker IMHO). While the bankroll isn’t back to even yet, it’s getting there. I’ve decided not to rebuy on Poker Stars until I get back to even (or close to it) and then I’m going to stick with +EV events like 5/10 LHE and the $15 two-table NHLE.

One bad hand from last night: I’m playing 10/20 and I’m in MP with AJo. I’m first in, so I raise. I get three callers. The flop is A 9 6 rainbow. BB checks, I check and the button checks. The turn is a K. BB bets and I raise. He’s played too many pots, but he does raise with a premium hand (although thinking about it now, I never saw him reraise). Since he just called my raise from the BB, I can’t put him on anything, but if I was going to make a move, this was the time). Button calls (!) and BB calls (!!). The river is a 2.

BB checks. I check.

Button bets.

Okay, now what? Did the BB slow play his AK? Did the button flop trips? Actually, to this point, I haven’t screwed up too badly (other than not betting the Ace on the flop). BB called and I called. Classic mistake. You need a MUCH stronger hand to over call. Aces with a J kicker could NEVER have won this pot, and it didn’t. BB had 2 pair (K2, but they were sooooted) and the button DID in fact flop a set of 6’s.

Ouch.

You should be reading: David Sedaris; Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Final thought: Never... ever suggest they don't have to pay you. What they pay for, they'll value. What they get for free, they'll take for granted, and then demand as a right. Hold them up for all the market will bear. - Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campain, 1999